Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Free Report) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 103,866 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after buying an additional 2,656 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned 0.14% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $34,022,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.1% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 110 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 150.9% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 133 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages have recently commented on WST. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research started coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut West Pharmaceutical Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $332.50.
Read Our Latest Report on WST
West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance
Shares of WST traded down $1.25 on Tuesday, reaching $222.64. 101,419 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 953,305. The stock has a market cap of $16.09 billion, a PE ratio of 33.28, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $197.01 and a 52-week high of $396.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $261.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $297.28.
West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The company had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $739.59 million. On average, analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. West Pharmaceutical Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.56%.
About West Pharmaceutical Services
(
Free Report)
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells containment and delivery systems for injectable drugs and healthcare products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in two segments, Proprietary Products and Contract-Manufactured Products.
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